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4th and goal: Sports viewership scores with strong online moves

Television is just one way to consume sports if you're a sports fanatic in 2015. Cable and broadcast now sit within an expanding technological ecosystem; they're parts of a whole range of viewing options. Every team's die-hard followers can now use their mobile and desktop devices to watch, re-watch, and reconsider every play, every game, all season long.

That's certainly a big deal following the dramatic and controversial conclusion of Super Bowl XLIX. Since its big finish on February 2, football fans have had plenty of online and mobile choices for going back to the Seahawks' final, critical pass decision. They've been able to skim the action again via the NFL's Game Rewind, for example, or even watch the whole contest again via NFL Mobile.

Fact is, 2014 turned out to be the most digitally enabled sports year ever recorded, according to the Adobe Digital Index. With the Olympics, March Madness, World Cup, and every major sporting league adding digital-video options, consumers embraced the shift to online.

Let's turn to numbers for a better understanding of how that's happening. From consuming content, to marketing within it, to viewers talking about it and helping spread the word, sports is on the cusp of its own crucial play in the digital space.

Mobile Rises: Sports Fans and Their Smartphones

As the data come in, the Super Bowl may well have seen more than 30% of its online video starts occur on mobile devices alone. And with the emergence of larger screens, smartphones are likely to show even more starts than tablets when it comes to the big games throughout the year.

Image: Adobe Digital Index

It's not just that audiences are engaging with their devices to watch their favorite games, however. It's that they're increasingly doing so over and over again and consistently. Options such as TV Everywhere are helping to drive that: in 2014, the Adobe Digital Index shows, consumers used TV Everywhere to view 4.2 authenticated sport videos per month, up from 3.8 in 2013.

Image: Adobe Digital Index

Perhaps even more compelling, for marketers, is the advertising potential that comes with these kinds of viewing choices.

Image: Adobe Digital Index

The chart above shows that online sports audiences see 66% more placements per video than any other kind of viewership. In other words, they're a rich demographic for brands looking to make an online impression.

Seasons Ahead: How Online Stands to Change Sports

Sports fans love their mobile devices for the flexibility they provide when it comes to keeping up with their favorite pastimes. Brands are keen on mobile and online viewing because of its potential to expand their footprint in the digital marketing space.

But sports stand to gain from all of this, too.

The ability to access games anywhere — consuming content at will in digital ways — is a recipe for expanding the reach of brands such as the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

Already, the NBA has the highest share of international social buzz, but numbers in all leagues are poised to grow even further. By 2020, the NBA, NFL, or MLB global reach could look much like what the World Cup saw, in 2014. That is, the share could be distributed more evenly across all regions worldwide.

Image: Adobe Digital Index

The takeaway? It's that you don't need to rewind the video to see how big 2014 was for professional sports and online viewership.

The industry, the technology, marketers — and the fans — are standing shoulder to shoulder on a kind of yard line, if you will. It's fourth and goal, and mobile and online content are the key play … certain to take all four elements into the end zone.

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.